[Debate] (Fwd) No probs in SA, none at all! (Zuma's happy talk)

[Patrick Bond]

(Emblematic of Zuma's grasp of reality, and especially uplifting for 
Africa, was the EU's COP17 'coup': "Aware of the fact that Africa is the 
Continent most affected by the impacts of climate change, we were 
committed as South Africa to ensuring that Durban delivered a fair and 
balanced outcome that would help secure the future of our planet. The 
resulting Durban Platform outcome was a coup for our country and our 
Continent...")


The Presidency

*The Presidency, 18 December 2011*


*End of Year Statement by President Jacob Zuma*

**
**
We have reached the end of a very industrious year as government.

We are pleased with the progress we have made, which has been achieved 
through the support of our people and various sectors of society.

We will mention just a few highlights.

*/CREATING DECENT WORK/*

We started 2011 by declaring it as the Year of Job Creation. We have 
been implementing our plans in a difficult economic climate, but even so 
the effort to create jobs has continued within the public and private 
sectors. These include large-scale infrastructure developments such as 
electricity plants, rail and road upgrades and water management that 
will sustain between 50 000 and 100 000 jobs in construction up to 2015.

Other initiatives that we put in place this year include:

      * A R9 billion Jobs Fund to encourage new initiatives both inside
        and outside of government.
      * The establishment of more than 300 co-operatives under the
        Comprehensive rural Development Programme.
      * Employment for an additional 34 000 people under the Expanded
        Public Works Programme, providing opportunities and income for a
        total of 280 000 persons, and
      * Job opportunities for more than 80 000 people under the
        Community Work Programme.


This was also a year in which we gave effect as a nation to the ethos of 
Working Together with a number of ground-breaking accords that now 
commit government and various sectors to taking the country forward jointly.

We have deepened social dialogue and partnership within the ambit of the 
National Economic Development and Labour Council or NEDLAC.

A historic Skills Accord was finalised, committing business and the 
State to enroll at least 30 000 artisan trainees over the next 12 months 
in training programmes.

A Green Economy Accord was concluded between government and economic 
sectors, paving the way for new economic activity and jobs linked to our 
efforts to make our country more responsive to the effects of climate 
change.

We also launched a Basic Education Accord in terms of which government, 
business and labour will work together to improve learning and teaching 
in our country.

A Local Procurement Accord was also concluded, committing the social 
partners to work together to increase local procurement. The procurement 
regulations giving effect to this Accord came into effect on 7 December 
2011.

The regulations empowered the Department of Trade and Industry to 
designate specific industries, of critical and strategic 
importance, where tenders should prescribe that only locally 
manufactured products will be considered, or that only locally 
manufactured products with a prescribed minimum threshold for local 
content will be considered.

*/IMPROVING THE PERFORMANCE OF THE STATE/*

This fourth administration introduced performance monitoring and 
evaluation as an integral part of government work.

The President undertook focused hands on monitoring visits to three 
provinces. We visited the Eastern Cape twice, first in June to assess 
the state of education and provide support and later in September to 
assess the performance of the automotive sector which is the economic 
engine of the province. We also visited King Sabata Dalindyebo 
municipality in Mthatha to assess the delivery of basic services 
including water, electricity and roads.

We visited Limpopo to assess the performance of the health sector. We 
found success stories and also areas that need serious work.

We also undertook a successful visit to the Maluti-a-Phofung Local 
Municipality in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District to assess rural 
development. We visited two villages, Diyatalawa and Makgolokoeng, which 
showcased impressive rural development projects.

In addition we sent teams from our Performance Monitoring and Evaluation 
Umzimkhulu and others to assess and promote service delivery.

We will continue with the hands on monitoring visits as we cannot rely 
on written reports only from departments.

Furthermore, the Presidency and the Offices of Premiers are jointly 
implementing a programme of monitoring of front-line service delivery, 
in other words, the experience of citizens when obtaining services from 
government.

The results of this monitoring will also be regularly presented to 
Cabinet and the Offices of Premiers with the aim of putting in place 
focused improvement initiatives.

All these measures are designed to improve the performance of the State 
and to encourage a culture of excellence amongst public servants.

This has also been a year in which we undertook a 10-year Census 
designed to help us understand better how we have developed over the 
last decade and where we need to do better in the delivery of public 
services.

We also continued to improve the National Population Register.  A 
credible and accurate National Population Register not only ensures that 
government knows exactly who in the country is a South African citizen 
and who is a foreign national, but enables government to plan timeously 
to meet the needs of the country's citizens since it has accurate data 
at its disposal.

In the quarter April -- July 2011, the total number of births registered 
was 133,262, which is 12% of estimated births of 1,1million projected by 
the Department in the financial year 2011/12.

We also prioritised the finalisation of applications for work, business 
and corporate permits.  To this end, a total of 7 054 permits were 
issued in the quarter April -- June 2011. This is part of attracting 
scarce skills into the country and boosting the economy which will help 
with job creation.

Another achievement was the finalisation of the draft National 
Development Plan which the National Planning Commission in the 
Presidency has released for public comment.

*/COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE/*

Cooperation with provincial administrations improved considerably due to 
the regular meetings of the President, Premiers and local government 
representatives in the President's Coordinating Council, PCC.

We are also working closely together to strengthen the performance of 
certain departments in the provincial administrations. We are working 
closely and cooperatively with the government of the Eastern Cape to 
revitalise education in that province.

In Gauteng, we are working with the provincial government to improve the 
administration of health, while in the Free State we have turned our 
focus to governance of roads and transport that region. We are also 
working with Limpopo to drastically improve the running of a number of 
departments including the provincial treasury.

Working together with the provincial governments we will ensure that we 
create and maintain a better life for South Africans in all corners of 
the country.

*/THE FIGHT AGAINST CRIME AND CORRUPTION/*

Official figures show that the most serious violent crimes are on the 
decline but the figures also tell us that we cannot let down our guard.

The following achievements have also been attained:

      * A 5.75% reduction was achieved for serious crimes in 2011/2012
        when compared in the same period of 2010/2011 (from 450 619
        reported crimes to 430 497).  There were 149 659 arrests.
      * A 9.65% reduction was achieved for contact crimes in 2011/2012
        when compared in the same period of 2010/2011(from 151 187
        reported crimes to 138 507). There were 54 919 arrests.
      * A 1.30% reduction was achieved for trio crimes during the
        2011/2012 when compared to the same period of 2010/2011(from 10
        743 reported crimes to 10 604 reported). There were 2 998 arrests.
      * Although the detection rate remained the same (55.18%) for
        2010/11 and 2011/12 financial years, the number of cases
        detected increase from 37 303 (2010/11) to 39 339 (2011/12).
      * The detection rate for crimes against children (under18 years)
        increased by 23.26% from 44.49% to 67.85% during 2010/11 and
        during 2011/12.


We continue to roll out the Victim Support Rooms (VSRs) in an effort to 
show empathy to victims of violent crime, especially in cases of sexual 
offences, child abuse and domestic violence.

For the period under review, we have increased the number of VSRs from 
806 to 900 across the country. These facilities compliment the 
Thuthuzela Care Centres and are meant for interviews, statement-taking 
and other consultations. There are currently 27 fully operational 
Thuthuzela Care Centres in the country and 9 more are being established this

In 2011 we also demonstrated very seriously that government is serious 
about the fight against corruption and to ensure clean governance.

To date, 22 proclamations have been issued authorising the Special 
Investigating Unit (SIU) to conduct investigations.

Most of these focus on procurement related irregularities as it is a 
major priority for government to deal with corruption in procurement, 
and to ensure better value for money. For the first time, these 
investigations included two of the Metropolitan Municipalities (Tshwane 
and Ekurhuleni) as well as the SABC.

Some of the other key investigations include:

      * The procurement of accommodation by the national Department of
        Public Works,
      * A number of municipalities in the Western Cape.
      * The procurement department of SAPS, the National Department of
        Rural Development and Land Reform,
      * The broadening of the investigation into contracts for building
        low-cost housing
      * The on-going investigations into the irregularities in the
        social grant system.


We established a Commission of Inquiry into the Strategic Defence 
Procurement Packages known commonly as the "/Arms Deal'/', to probe 
allegations of corruption which have been lingering on for a number of 
years.

The outcome of the Commission will hopefully bring about closure and put 
to rest the allegations, rumours and speculation.  Work is ongoing to 
establish the Commission and to organise the administrative aspects so 
that it can commence its work soon.

We also established a Board of Inquiry in terms of section 9(1) of the 
South African Police Service Act 68 of 1995, to look into allegations of 
misconduct by the National Commissioner of the South African Police 
Service or into his fitness for office or into his capacity for 
executing his official duties efficiently. The Commission will commence 
its work soon.

We emphasise that the institution of the Board of Inquiry and the also 
the Arms Inquiry do not presuppose guilt by any individuals.

We also released the Donen Report into the Iraq Oil for Food Programme, 
and were able to put to rest speculation and rumours that had been 
circulating about senior leaders in government.

*/IMPROVING HEALTH CARE/*

We made progress in various areas in the health sector.

I would like to single out the fight against HIV and AIDS.

In 2009 we announced ground breaking measures to fight HIV and AIDS, 
relating to testing, treatment and support. We have made tremendous 
progress. Last year we launched a national HIV counselling and testing 
campaign which aimed to test 15 million people by June 2011.

More than 13 million people were tested for HIV and more than 8 million 
were screened for TB.  This is a remarkable response by South Africans.

The South African National AIDS Council, with the Department of Health 
as the lead department, is continuing to take testing to all corners of 
the country, including rural areas. From January 2010 to September 2011, 
the number of public health facilities initiating patients on 
antiretroviral treatment has increased from 495 to 2 948.

In addition, while 290 nurses were accredited to initiate and provide 
treatment a few years ago, we have now increased the number to nearly 10 
542 nurses.

Unlike before, all public health facilities in South Africa now offer 
services to pregnant women, which include HIV testing.  Where pregnant 
women are HIV positive, their CD4 count is checked, to determine whether 
or not the mother should go onto antiretroviral treatment.

A landmark achievement for our country is the 50 percent reduction in 
the transmission of HIV from mothers to children between 2008 and 2010.

The proportion of children whose mothers are HIV positive who were 
infected decreased from 8% in 2008 to 3.5% in 2010.

In another major achievement, between April 2010 and June 2011, more 
than 300 000 people were placed on preventive treatment to stop the 
activation of TB.  In 2009, only 23 000 people were on TB preventive 
therapy.

We also launched the new National Strategic Plan to fight HIV, Sexually 
Transmitted Infections and TB 2012 to 2016.

*/RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM/*

One of the success stories is the piloting of the revitalization of 
small rural towns Two Pilot Projects are underway at the Prince Albert 
Hamlet (PAH), Witzenburg Municipality; and, in Dysselsdorp, in the 
Greater Oudtshoorn Municipality. Both are in the Western Cape Province. 
These are two examples of what could be achieved in working together as 
the three spheres of government and the community.

We launched the National Rural Youth Service Corp (NARYSEC) 
in Dysselsdorp. Atotal of 7956 young people from rural communities are 
participating in the programme.

Training programmes include disaster management, construction and 
information management. This will contribute to skills development as 
well as service delivery improvement in rural areas.

*/HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND CHILD CARE/*

The school nutrition scheme now reaches 8.6 million learners who would 
otherwise not have meals at schools which would impact on their learning 
capabilities.

Social grants remain the cornerstone of the fight against poverty 
affecting children and older persons. These now reach more than 15 
million individuals.

The Child Support Grant was extended to children aged 16 and 17, which 
increased the number of children benefiting from the grant to more than 
10, 5 million.  Age equalisation between male and female recipients of 
the Grant for Older Persons entered its third and final phase when men 
aged 60 started accessing the grant, thus increasing the number of 
elderly people receiving the grant to 2, 7 million.

The number of registered Early Childhood Development sites increased to 
more than 19 000, and the number of children benefiting from ECD 
services to more than 790 000.  The target for 2011 had been the 
subsidisation of 17 000 centres. We are happy with the increase in 
numbers of centres that government is assisting so that children are not 
denied early childhood education just because their parents cannot pay.

Significant progress was made in supporting and strengthening family and 
community interventions which foster social cohesion.  A particular 
milestone in this respect was the finalisation of a Green Paper on the 
Family. The eventual White Paper will provide strategic guidance on 
providing services to families in an integrated way.

*/HUMAN SETTLEMENTS/*

The Informal Settlements Upgrading Programme has exceeded the target by 
providing services in 52 383 sites against a target of 27 054 sites.

The Housing Development Agency is now fully operational. To date the 
Agency has acquired 309 land properties.  Provincial departments have 
acquired an additional 4 944, 5 hectares of land in support of our 
government's initiatives to provide sustainable human settlements.

*/SAVING TOMORROW TODAY/*

The objective of a better life for the people of South Africa, the 
Continent of Africa and the world at large was at the heart of our 
successful hosting of the COP17/CMP7 United Nations Climate Change 
Conference in Durban recently.

Aware of the fact that Africa is the Continent most affected by the 
impacts of climate change, we were committed as South Africa to ensuring 
that Durban delivered a fair and balanced outcome that would help secure 
the future of our planet.

The resulting Durban Platform outcome was a coup for our country and our 
Continent and we look forward to maintaining the momentum that was 
initiated in Durban.

I wish to commend all the components of government, the COP 17 
Inter-Ministerial Committee, the KwaZulu-Natal provincial Government, 
the Ethekwini Municipality and those in the private sector and civil 
society who worked hard to ensure that the Durban event would showcase 
South Africa at its best, politically and logistically.

We are also particularly proud of the commendable roles played by our 
Minister of International Relations and Cooperation as COP 17 President 
and the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs as the leader of the 
South African delegation.

*BUILDING A BETTER AFRICA AND A BETTER WORLD*

The African agenda remained the key policy focus, with South Africa 
currently serving a two year term on the African Union (AU) Peace and 
Security Council.

Moreover, in August, South Africa assumed the chairpersonship of 
the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Organ on Politics, 
Defence and Security.

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) turned ten years 
old this year. South Africa has played and will continue to play a 
leading role in developing NEPAD and its various sectoral strategies, 
programmes and projects, mobilising African and international support 
for NEPAD, especially domestic resource mobilisation and supporting its 
structures and processes.

South Africa also has a critical role in NEPAD as chair of the 
Presidential Infrastructure Championship Initiative (PICI).

South Africa hosted the Second Tripartite Summit in June 2011, of SADC, 
the East African Community and the Common Market for Eastern and 
Southern Africa. The regional integration will create a market of 26 
countries with a combined population of nearly 600 million people and a 
total GDP of approximately US$624 billion.

We hosted the 5th IBSA Summit (involving India, Brazil and South 
Africa) in October 2011.  The IBSA trilateral development initiative 
aims to increase trade volumes between the three countries to US$ 25 
billion by 2015.

The world witnessed the birth of a brand new state, South Sudan. South 
Africa will continue to play a role in supporting peace in the two Sudan 
states and assist the two countries with development, including 
institution and capacity building.

We are currently involved in various peacekeeping operations and a total 
of two thousand three hundred and four (2304) South African National 
Defence Force (SANDF) members are at present deployed externally.

These include:

      * Operation Mistral in the DRC where one thousand two hundred and
        thirty six (1 236) SANDF members are deployed. The SANDF
        contingent is in support of the United Nations Stabilisation
        Mission (MONUSCO).
      * Operation Cordite -- Sudan (Darfur) which consists of eight
        hundred and nine (809).
      * Operation Vimbezela - Central African Republic (CAR) which
        consists of seventy two (72) primary training and engineer
        personnel building capacity in the CAR by "training the trainers".


We commend our soldiers who are representing the country professionally 
and diligently in these operations.

Meanwwhile, we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 
Mozambique which will see South Africa and Mozambique working together 
for the promotion of maritime security in SADC's Indian Ocean, with 
particular emphasis on the Mozambique Channel extending to the broader 
SADC waters.

The partnership and cooperation include joint training, sharing of 
information, intelligence, joint patrols and ongoing support in military 
developments.

A key challenge during the year was the situation in Libya. South Africa 
was principled and consistent in its efforts to help secure a resolution 
of the situation in Libya, despite the unfortunate developments around 
the misuse of the United Nations Resolution 1973 which was meant to 
protect civilians.

We will continue to work within the AU towards a solution in Libya and 
to deal with challenges in the North African region.

*/SPORTS/*

On the sporting front, the netball, rugby and cricket teams participated 
in international tournaments. They flew the rainbow flag with 
distinction even if we did not capture the ultimate honours.

*/AND MANY MORE/*

Government has achieved much more than the few highlights we have 
mentioned in this statement. Other key achievements were in the areas of 
promoting the green economy, infrastructure development and coordination 
such as the establishment of a Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating 
Commission led by the President. We also established a Short-Term Jobs 
Commission led by the Deputy President.

We also made commendable progress in the areas of renewable energy, 
water provision, roads and transport, public enterprises, heritage 
promotion, science and technology and labour issues. We will endeavour 
to provide an update on these and other priority areas in the State of 
the Nation Address on the 9^th  of February 2012.

*/CONCLUSION/*

The year 2011 also presented us with a range of challenges that we have 
been able to meet with fortitude and innovation.

Those that set us back, or challenged us in one way or another, simply 
redirected us to the drawing board where we often found new ways of 
doing things that would take our country forward.

We thank all who contributed to making this a highly effective and 
focused year with regards to implementing our programme of action and 
undertakings.

Let us use the New Year, 2012, to build on the good record we've 
established collectively as a nation.

It is a pleasure for me to wish all South Africans and the high number 
of visitors who are in our country at this time of year, a safe and 
enjoyable time at home with friends and family.

We thank those in essential services for remaining on duty during this 
time. Let us cooperate with them to ensure a safer festive season.

Let us all use the festive break to renew our commitment to this great 
country and nation.

*I thank you.*


*Issued by the Presidency
Pretoria

Enquiries: Mac Maharaj on 079 879 3203.*



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